Dental News Roundup June 2011
BY MATTHEW JAFFE, JUNE 30, 2011
Earnings
On May 26th, Patterson reported F4Q:11 sales of $883.0 million, up 9% over the year-ago quarter and beating estimates by $37.5 million. Dental sales were up 5% in the fourth quarter to $573.0 million, with the following breakout: consumable dental supplies up 3%; equipment and software up 11%; and other dental services up 4%. Net income was $62.7 million in F4Q:11, or $0.53 per diluted share, which compares to $61.8 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, in F4Q:10. EPS beat estimates by $0.02.
M&A
Dentsply announced an agreement to acquire Astra Tech from AstraZeneca for $1.8 billion, about 3.4x 2010 sales. They will finance the transaction with cash on hand, commercial paper and long-term debt and expect the deal to close before the end of 2011. Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Dentsply. Post-acquisition, Dentsply will be the third-largest dental manufacturer in the world.
Medisafe 1 Technologies, a syringe developer, announced they are in negotiations to acquire an unnamed company that has a "breakthrough technology" in the dental implant industry. According to the press release, the product "promotes healing and enables real-time functional occlusion, improving the connection between bone and implant."
Funding
BIOLASE Technology, which manufactures and sells dental lasers, announced that Deerfield Management and other institutional investors will make a $9.0 million private placement, purchasing 1.6 million shares of common stock of unregistered BIOLASE stock.
Affineti Biologics received a $0.5 million commitment for funding from Foundation Venture Capital Group. The funds will be used to continue Affiuneti's research in the development of hybrid or fusion proteins that adhere to tissues with antimicrobial effects; this technology can be used to create a mouthwash with applications in prevention of caries, periodontal disease therapy and dry mouth.
Product Introduction and Update
Henry Schein has launched two products. The first is a rubber-coated dam frame, which is designed to prevent accidental swallowing and protect against contamination. The second is a line of resin color-coded probes with rounded ends and flexible tips for use in dental implant procedures.
MIS Implants Technologies, a manufacturer of dental implants and superstructures, launched a new oral care products brand named PeriZone. The first product from the line is the PeriZone PerioPatch, which is intended for patients with inflamed or irritated gums, wounds, injuries and ulcerations.
Panasonic launched a new intraoral camera which uses six high-definition lenses and can take still or video pictures.
Legal
The California Northern District Court granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the securities fraud case in Wozniak v. Align Technologies (makers of Invisalign). The plaintiff alleged that the company's claim that they were "positioned to generate significant top line growth" despite needing to focus on a backlog of orders rather than generating new business was fraudulent. The judge ruled that the plaintiff lacked evidence of "hard numbers" and company's financial outlook statements constituted non-actionable optimism.
Licensing and Distribution
3M ESPE and BIOMET 3i announced they are partnering to use 3M ESPE's Lava Chairside Oral Scanner with BIOMET 3i's Encode Impression System to create intraoral impressions for custom abutments.
Appointments
Patterson appointed Ranell Hamm Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining Patterson, she was Senior Director of Clinical Information Delivery for UnitedHealth Group.
